Ant Man and the Wasp

So we ventured forth from the Fortress of Ineptitude this weekend to go see Ant Man and the Wasp. And a good time was had by all.

Until the credits. But whoops! I'm getting ahead of myself.

As to the movie itself....

A good sequel has to thread a needle, to at once revisit some of the stuff that made you like the previous movie in the first place while moving stuff forward.

To the former, we have Scott Lang's relationship with his daughter Cassie. We first see Scott and Cassie playing in an elaborate maze of cardboard, pretending to be shrunk down while on a quest. It's silly and sweet, showing us more of the Scott from the first movie who is a bit of a goof but undeniably adores his daughter.

We get more Micheal Pena's Lius who's trying to launch a security company that he has cluelessly named X-CON. There's a scene where Luis is injected with truth serum and Luis goes on one of his patented monologues, taking a lot of words to deliver a simple answer. 

Moving forward, we have to deal with Scott's current predicament. After his participation in the events of Captain America: Civil War, Scott cut a deal with the Feds to get out of prison. Scott is under house arrest and is within a few days of being free from that. But then he as a weird dream. He's back in the quantum realm he visited at the end of Ant-Man which is followed by a vision of a young girl playing hide and seek with her mother. 

Waking up, Scott reluctantly calls Dr. Hank Pym. By reluctantly, I mean Pym and his daughter Hope are not at all happy with Scott. His involvement with Captain America was done with their tech so they are on the run from the Feds as well.

Meanwhile, Hank and Hope are working on a way to reach Hope's mother, Janet, who's trapped in the quantum realm.  Just as they made an attempt to reach her, they get a call from Scott about his weird dream.

Against their better judgment, they bring Scott into the fold because there's something in his head that will help Henry and Hope reach Janet. Meanwhile, Hope leaves behind a giant ant equipped with Scott's ankle monitor to maintain Scott's house arrest.

Then things get weird.  



Complicating matters for our team is an unscrupulous tech supplier named Sonny Birch who thinks there's a big score in whatever Henry and Hope are working on. 

Then there's the Ghost, a woman in white with mad fighting skills and the ability to phase through matter at will; she really wants whatever Henry and Hope are working on. 

Meanwhile an FBI agent named Jimmy Woo is sure that Scott Lang's up to something and it might lead him to whatever Henry and Hope are working on.  

And whatever Henry and Hope are working on is on a time crunch; they have a limited window of opportunity to save Janet from the quantum realm.

There are a lot of balls in the air and they all don't get caught.

This movie is non-stop action and comedy with just enough moments of drama to keep it from floating away as a light, inconsequential concoction. Henry just wants to save his wife, Hope her mother. The Ghost is racing against time to save her own life. Scott really just wants to be free to be a dad to Cassie. 

Let me say a word about the Wasp. This is Marvel's first movie with a female hero in the lead. OK, she's sharing the lead but hey, it's a step forward. And what a step forward it is. Evangeline Lilly is a lot more relaxed in this outing as Hope Van Dyne and that owes a lot to Hope getting to cut loose as the Wasp. Hope is fierce but with a wry sense of humor. 

All in all, Ant Man and the Wasp captures the spirit of fun that made the first Ant Man movie a stand out in the Marvel Cinematic Universe without just being a rehash. 

But heads up, we have a mid-credits scene to deal with.

WARNING: SERIOUS SPOILERS COMING UP

While Ant Man and the Wasp takes place a couple of years after Captain America: Civil War, it's relation to Avengers: Infinity War is a not made clear. 

Until that scene. Scott is on a mission into the quantum realm with the rest of the team standing by to pull him out. Then he loses communication with his team. We cut back to the outside world to see fluttering piles of ash.   

Thanos' finger snap has struck. 

It's a sequence that brings up some interesting questions.  Remember in Infinity War, Thanos said the effect of killing half of the universe would be random. But the three people who vanished in Ant Man and the Wasp are all related. 

What if the Thanos effect is not random at all? 

Furthermore, before going into the quantum realm, Scott is warned to avoid time vortexes. The current concensus is that the time travel will be involved in reversing the Thanos effect in Avengers 4. Perhaps Scott Lang in the quantum realm will be the source of that time travel?  

The final final post credit scene is the giant ant still in Scott's apartment, playing the drums while a nearby TV is broadcasting an emergency alert.  

Post Thanos, the world is in crisis. 

Will it fall to Ant Man to save the day?